Oklahoma fraternity allegedly injured pledge after 2015 Texas loss

An Oklahoma fraternity is once again in some hot water. A former student has filed a lawsuit against the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, alleging he was struck with a baseball bat, fell down and suffered a brain injury. The alleged hazing incident took place after the Sooners lost to the Longhorns in the 2015 Red River Rivalry.

Adding fuel to the fire is that the student making the allegations is Blake Novacek, the son of former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jay Novacek, who was an 18-year-old freshman at the time.

The lawsuit was filed last week in Tulsa County court. According to Christopher Cooke, one of Novacek’s attorneys, who spoke to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “The reason they were being hazed on that particular evening? OU had lost to the University of Texas in the previous game. They decided to haze the boys because OU lost.”

When the pledges arrived, there where nearly 100 current and alumni fraternity members waiting. Pledges were taken into rooms where they had to recite certain “pledge facts” they were required to learn.

Novacek was reportedly taken to the room of brother Shane Muselmann, who was heavily intoxicated. Muselmann became furious when the pledge was unable to recite certain facts. The suit claims Muselmann then swung a baseball bat, striking Novacek in the abdomen and causing the pledge to fall backward and hit his head on a hard object.

Novacek was knocked unconscious and woke up several hours later on a couch in the fraternity house, according to his lawsuit.

Christopher Cooke added, “It wasn’t just college kids that were in the fraternity house that night. There were adults who were previous graduates and members of the fraternity who participated in the hazing that evening. I’m talking 30-year-old men, 40-year-old men, 50-year-old men.”

The lawsuit states Novacek was threatened by another brother, Gavin Martindale, to keep quiet about the hazing incident or the fraternity would ruin him, his family’s reputation, damage his property and have him kicked out of school.

Novacek is seeking more than $150,000, including punitive damages, from each defendant.